Saina Nehwal is regarded as one of the greatest badminton players to have come out of India. (Source: Saina Nehwal twitter)
Saina Nehwal on Monday posted an image of the Vogue India cover featuring her. Saina is set to play her first match at the 2018 BWF World Championship on Tuesday. The former world no.1 is tenth seed in the women’s singles draw in Nanjing.
Along with the cover itself, Saina posted another pic from the shoot. Before this, Saina had appeared in the cover of the magazine Femina. In that instance, she was joined by double-trap shooter Shreyasi Singh, paddler Manika Batra, pistol shooter Heena Sidhu and legendary boxer Mary Kom, all of whom were set to represent India in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Magazine 👍👍#Vogueindia ☺️☺️ pic.twitter.com/jt02PIedRT
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) 29 July 2018
☺️☺️ pic.twitter.com/PkCUH2hF3R
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) 29 July 2018
Indian badminton has seen a steady rise in recent years due to the emergence of a generation of players who have won a host of titles around the world. Saina is seen as the one who started this wave. In 2015, she became the first female player from India, and the second overall after Prakash Padukone, to have reached world no.1 in the BWF rankings. She is the only Indian to have won at least one medal in every major BWF junior event which includes the World Junior Championship, the World Championship and the Olympics. She was also the first Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal.